Seven months away from commencing local manufacturing at Chennai and a product pipeline of nine models planned by 2012, Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd has arrived in the market. Talking to Shweta Bhanot and Priyanka Akhouri, recently appointed chief executive officer and managing director Kiminobu Tokuyama said the company wants to grab a 5% share in the market and build awareness of the brand. Excerpts…
How do you weigh the brand?s performance in the market since 2005 and how do you see the market shaping up in the coming years?
Since 2005 we have not been big in this market. We currently have only two products ?Teana and X-Trail. These two products are completely built units and carry high import duty on them. Therefore, our business has been small and our sales were not large enough to expand the dealer network. However, we have not come to India to stay as a small player. We have come in the market looking to become a major player and build the brand.
Don?t you think much could have been done in terms of products and dealers in the past four years? The brand has more or less been absent from the market.
I am hopeful and confident that this timing is not too late and our brand is witnessing modest growth in the market. We expect to grab a 5% market share. However, yes, if we had entered earlier, we could have got a much bigger base in the market. We are seeing a new dawn in the Indian market and want to provide the world?s best quality, customer service and value to Indian customers. The brand awareness is low at the moment and all efforts are being put in to strengthen it. We have an aggressive marketing plan in place. Nissan has finally arrived in India .
What is in store for Indian customers?
We plan to launch nine models by 2012. Early next year, we are getting the sports car 370Z. The car will not fetch us large volumes, but will be our symbolic icon in the market. Then we commence production at our Chennai plant, from where we plan to launch the much-awaited hatchback by June next year and later from the same platform will come a sedan and a third model. Further, we strongly believe that the existing models will sell more and appeal to more customers. We are also looking at a completely knocked down option for Teana and X-Trail.
What kind of investments are planned for the Indian market and dealership strategy?
By 2012, we plan to sign 55 dealers covering 80% of the Indian market. Right now, we have 11 dealers. We were focusing on tier-I cities at present, but the new dealers will focus on the tier-II cities. We are aiming at signing three dealers per month. Hover Automotive India is our strategic partner looking into sales and marketing.
Talking about investments, of the total investment of 350 billion Japanese yen for FY?09, the maximum investment is routed to India. We have also invested Rs 65 crore in the Renault-Nissan Technology and Business Centre India in Chennai. The Chennai plant investment stands at Rs 4,500 crore to be made over seven years. At the start of production stage, the Chennai plant will have an installed capacity of two lakh units per annum, which can be taken up to four lakh units per annum.
Any plans of setting up a retail financing arm in India?
To operate a retail financing arm in India one needs to tie up with an Indian partner and we are studying the option. At present, our dealers are managing the financing for our vehicles.